Vocal musical performance (Rap) is a popular form of music expressed in many styles some of which emphasize spoken rhymes in a rhythmic fashion without instrumental sound (A cappella) or with instrumental or other musical accompaniment (Background Music). Some varieties of Rap are comprised of lyrics, rhymes, and sometimes orally generated sounds composed ad hoc and extemporaneously. Some varieties of Background Music consist of one or more musical instruments and/or other voices. The person who performs these rhymes is known as a Rapper. A good Rapper can perform lyrically creative rhymes in cadence and with a variety of other qualities and characteristics. This Rap is known as a Rapper's “Flow”. A good Rap Flow will compliment and add a melodic enhancement to Background Music much like the addition of an instrument.
Traditional singing is judged on the range in pitch and tune. A Rapper's Flow may be judged on the rhythmic delivery of words and syllables, content of lyrics, rhymed patterns and phrases, and vocal presence. When Rappers compete against each other it is called a Rap Battle. In a Rap Battle, Rappers are typically judged by a group of their peers on how good they can Flow.
The popularity of music-based video game applications has increased in recent years due to the introduction of various computer based devices and operating systems capable of running game applications such as XBOX™ (Microsoft® Corp.), PLAYSTATION™ (Sony Entertainment Corp.) and smart mobile devices such as the iPad™, iTouch™, and iPhone™ (Apple Inc).
These computer based devices can host a variety of interactive games, including rhythm-based games such as Guitar Hero™ (Activision Publishing, Inc), pattern-based games such as Tap Tap Revenge (Developed by TAPULOUS, INC) and karaoke-based games such as SingSong (Developed by MobilMeme, Inc.). These games apply a variety of known voice processing methods and systems that can detect whether a user's vocal sequence is in pitch and tune with a stored vocal pattern or if the input response of a user is on time with a stored musical composition.
There are also pre-existing methods that have been employed to provide content and speech recognition in various computer based applications. These methods search and compare user inputted sounds and syllables to find a match from a stored database of words.
These systems and methods require previously stored songs, musical compositions, or lyrics in order to evaluate and score how well a user is able to sing a specific song, measure a user's response time to a specific pattern, and match a particular vocal signal to the stored word.